


Masculine

by Monsieur_Grenouille



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: I hate Luther Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves Being an Asshole, M/M, Mild Language, Trans Diego Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24205924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monsieur_Grenouille/pseuds/Monsieur_Grenouille
Summary: Diego always went the extra mile to be masculine, even if it got him the iconic scar above his ear. This is something I wrote a while ago, but I went through and edited it. It's higher quality now.Okay so I edited it again. I found some grammatical errors so now it's near perfect(?)
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 24
Kudos: 194





	Masculine

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, this has existed before. It's just edited.

“Diego, what are you doing?” Grace looked up into the tree, where Diego was barely hanging on by his arms. He whimpered softly and kicked his legs. He shouldn’t have taken the dare from Luther. He shouldn’t have been so stupid. Manliness isn’t tested by the ability to climb to the tallest branch of a tree, but that might just be the hindsight talking. 

“M-M-Mom...!” he panted, “I’m- I’m about to fall!” 

Grace’s voice was calm. “Don’t worry, Diego. Just trust me.” 

“N... No, M-Mom. I can d-d-d-do this on my... my own. Ungh~” Diego flailed his legs, eventually tapping the next branch with the tip of his sneaker. He shifted his position and tried at the branch again, landing his ankles to rest on it. He didn’t know what to do from there but was mainly just proud that he could change position. That was until the branch he held onto snapped. “MOM!!” he screamed. 

It was too late. Grace had temporarily stopped her defense systems and walked back to the building the second Diego said he could do it on his own. Diego hit the ground hard, pain surging everywhere. “OH MY GOD!!” he panicked. “I c-c-can’t... c-can’t...” 

The other Hargreeves children had gathered around him, wide-eyed. Luther was the quietest since he knew it was his fault. Klaus was on his knees. “Can’t what? Diego?! Talk to... talk to me.” Klaus sobbed. 

Vanya gasped quietly. “Diego, there’s blood coming out of your head...” 

Luther shouted, “SOMEONE GET DAD!!!” 

Five shook his head. “Dad won’t do shit. He’ll tell Diego to walk it off. We need Mom.” 

Allison nodded. “Stay here; I’ll get mom.” She ran off into the house, leaving the others to stand anxiously around their brother. Klaus whimpered and gripped Diego’s wrist. 

“Talk to me talk to me talk to me...” he muttered. 

Diego coughed. His vision was starting to get fuzzy around the edges. “C-C-C-Can’t... feel a thing,” he whispered. A high pitched tone filled his ears, along with a type of buzzing yellow noise. Then, the whole world fell away to absorb him in darkness. 

********************

“Dia? Can you hear me?” Luther asked. Diego winced at his birth name, as did almost everyone in the room. Luther wasn’t exactly accepting after Diego came out, so this happened all the time. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Diego snapped. 

Luther took a step back. “I just wanted to say hi,” he defended. 

Diego clenched his fists at his sides. “But why’d it have to be _you_?” he growled in response. Suddenly, a wave of confusion washed over him. He looked around the room, his heart rate leaping at the sight of unfamiliar walls. “Where am I?!” he panicked. 

Klaus touched his arm from the other side of the bed. “We’re in a hospital,” he informed calmly. “You hit your head really hard when you fell, and it’s been three weeks since the fall. I know you’re not happy with Luther talking to you first, but you should know that I’ve been talking to you more than anyone.” 

Diego couldn’t calm down. “H-Hos-Hosp-p-p–“ 

Klaus squeezed his hand. “Picture the word, remember?” 

Diego closed his eyes and focused. “I’m in the h-h-hospital?” he enunciated. Klaus waved a hand at the others to say, _Get out of here_. The others nodded and got out. Klaus smiled lightly and kissed Diego’s forehead. 

“What do you remember?” he whispered, “about you and me?” 

Diego smiled softly. He lifted his arm and looped it around Klaus’s neck, pulling him down into a gentle kiss. “I remember that,” he whispered, “but you really need to tell me what happened before I fell.” 

Klaus thought for a second. “Luther said you weren’t man enough to climb to the tallest part of our oak tree, so you got mad at him and climbed it. You slipped at some point and went unconscious for three weeks. Sadly, Dad doesn’t know yet. You had to get stitches on your head, just above your ear.” He pulled a small mirror out of his shoulder bag and flicked it open. He held it near the scar so Diego could see it. 

Diego didn’t know how to feel about the pale pink scar running from his ear to his eyebrow. It looked hella manly, but he didn’t want it to make him any less attractive. “Oh m-my god,” he whispered, reaching up to touch it. It hurt when he did, so he took his hand off. 

“You were very brave, you know. So manly and tough. And now that you have the scar, you’ll pass so easily.” He smiled admiringly at Diego. Diego smiled back. He wanted to pass. Over the past year, everyone except Luther had helped him become more masculine. Ben taught him how to drop and lower his voice just enough to be convincing, Vanya had snuck him a chest binder, Klaus had taken him clothes-shopping, and Five had taught him how to have more masculine body language. When Reginald didn’t support Diego, Allison whispered in his ear, “I heard a rumor that you support Number Two’s transition.” 

Diego pushed his head up to rub against Klaus’s neck, his spiky tuft of hair scratching against Klaus’s chin. “Did much happen while I was out?” 

Klaus hummed softly for a few seconds. Eventually, he made a noise as if remembering something. “Luther and Allison kissed,” he said. 

Diego rolled his eyes. “That’s it?” 

Klaus nodded. “Nothing’s exciting anymore. They’ll let you out of here soon, I think. Maybe tomorrow or the day after that. You haven’t been able to wear your binder for the past three weeks, but I’ve been carrying it in my bag every single time I visited, just in case you woke up dysphoric. Do you want it?” He fished around in his bag until he held up Diego’s binder. 

Diego shook his head. “I just need to let this all set in first. C-can the rest of the family come back in?” 

Klaus nodded and gave him one last kiss on the forehead. “You know,” he whispered, “You didn’t stutter once in this whole private conversation. If only everyone else heard it.” 

********************

The scar stayed with Diego long until adulthood, and he had to explain it to almost every single person he met. Truth was, it was just stitches from falling out of a tree. It was the result of being a kid and wanting to prove others wrong—oppositional defiance—towards other kids. Specifically, the one kid he hated most, who was also the one kid who always seemed better than him. The nature of the accident wasn’t anything special, and it can be downplayed easier than anything else in Diego’s life. 

But he didn’t downplay it since the scar wouldn’t still be there if it wasn’t important. To every person who asked him the question, “What’s up with your scar?” he’d say the same thing. 

“I wanted to prove I was masculine to the person who wouldn’t change their mind no matter what I did. I just wanted to feel accepted.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Recently started reading _1984_ by Orwell. It’s so addicting.


End file.
